Soccer complex on The Fly is dead

It was such a shitty idea. Half the town is blighted and run down but they want to develop the one open green space uptown on the river?

The would-be developer's letter:

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Almost 2 years ago, I had the idea of building a new Sports Complex at "the Fly". After traveling to cities like Birmingham, Memphis and Lake Charles to watch my daughters play soccer, it was apparent to me that some of our athletic facilities in New Orleans needed to be upgraded. Instead of complaining about the situation and hoping someone else would address the problem, I coordinated the design of a new Sports Complex which included a pro-turf field, new bathrooms and an upgraded playground and raised $4M from community leaders and foundations to build the facility.

Unfortunately, this 100% privately funded, charitable project has become a hugely divisive issue for our community. Over the past few weeks, we have been working hard to build more consensus with a large group of community leaders and organizations. We redesigned the Sports Complex to address some of the community's concerns; however, it is now apparent that there is no design that can create common ground with so many competing interests. Therefore, I have informed Audubon and Carrollton Boosters that it is time to stop the development of the Sports Complex. You may hear from the opponents of the project that they "won" and "defeated" the project. But, I simply believe that no one wins when a 100% privately funded Sports Complex for children is not built. In my opinion, charity projects should never be about wins and losses, they should only be about wins.

Finally, as a citizen of New Orleans, I have been appalled, shocked and disappointed by the personal attacks on social media about organizations like Audubon and Carrollton Boosters as well as against some of our city's greatest philanthropic leaders. To insult and criticize volunteers for their work on a charity project is simply inappropriate. Since the beginning of this project, I have respected the oppositions' opinions on how a piece of land should be used, but I will never understand the venomous nature of some comments about the people involved with the building of a Sports Complex. I wish our community activists and officials would get as outraged about our crime, murder rate, state budget deficit, and crumbling streets as much as they have about a new sports field, playground and bathrooms. With the stoppage of this project, I hope we can now focus on what is really important which is making our city a better place for our children.

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This a-hole is SO butthurt. Your precious daughter plays soccer so you want to destroy a park that everyone can enjoy? Also it's not 100% privately funded if the *land* is currently owned by the public. The guy just doesn't get it.

good

Good to hear.

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Soccer board

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We don't want your shitty threads.

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I coordinated the design of a new Sports Complex

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His first problem was not involving the existing site users from the beginning. That's park design 101 stuff.

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You may hear from the opponents of the project that they "won" and "defeated" the project. But, I simply believe that no one wins when a 100% privately funded Sports Complex for children is not built. In my opinion, charity projects should never be about wins and losses, they should only be about wins.

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What a douchecanoe. There's nothing charitable about taking public land so his daughter can have a high dollar place to play soccer.

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The site is already a soccer complex, it's not green space.

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It's multi-purpose space, which is different.

back in the day, I use to get F'kd up like a football bat at the Fly .

Meanwhile the lakefront is being sold to private interests for profit and no one cares.

I signed the petition against. Finally won something